


The Talk

by insertfruitpun



Category: The Witchlands Series - Susan Dennard
Genre: Drinking, Gen, Stix is there for a moment, but like really minor, minor vix and safik
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-27 21:55:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30129414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insertfruitpun/pseuds/insertfruitpun
Summary: Safi and Vivia have a talk. It does not go as planned.
Relationships: Safiya fon Hasstrel & Vivia Nihar
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	The Talk

This was not how the night was supposed to go.

Merik warned Safi that his sister was going to talk to her, and that she could be intense. Safi wouldn't have expected anything else from a woman who saw piracy as a reasonable option. 

While extremely cool, it was all kinds of unpractical, not to mention illegal. Or was it? Vivia obviously found enough loopholes to go through with it without breaking the truce. Safi supposed that made it all right.

Safi was late. It wasn't unusual, and it was something Merik always criticised. Vivia just shot her a judgemental look and gestured at the chair opposite of herself. The overly formal greeting didn't make her feel any better. 

Safi didn't know what to expect. She had only seen the queen in bigger groups, and while Merik swore he didn't know what Vivia wanted to talk about, Safi could already tell that she was about to receive the same talk she gave Aeduan a few weeks ago. Maybe even worse. Probably worse. Safi was no amateur in having her actions judged, but never before did it have any actual effect on her life. This time, however...well, it didn't matter. Safi would find a way to go from a cold "good evening" to an earnest "good night". She did that before, many times in fact. She could do it again.

It was kind of funny, really, how Merik was convinced that his sister hated him, but here she was, glaring at Safi across the small table. 

Vivia obviously took the liberty of ordering Safi a drink, probably frustrated by her unfortunate timing. And while she would have loved to do anything to look away from the queen without it being rude, Safi couldn't force herself to take even a sip.

"I don't drink," she said. 

Vivia just nodded. Safi was glad she didn't question it. Half a glass of something or other couldn't hurt most times, and maybe Safi would have braved through it for politeness' sake if she didn't know how strong Nubrevnan drinks were.

Maybe Merik and Kullen made a big deal out of it, but Safi liked to be on the safe side. 

The place was nicer than most, but Safi could tell that the amount of alcohol was the same. It was just a Nubrevnan thing, Kullen said. Merik then made a remark about drowning your feelings that Safi absolutely did not indulge with a thoughtful discussion. 

Gods damn her, she loved that idiot, but he was an idiot through and through.

And an idiot that could be easily won over. Safi wasn't fool enough to believe the same would work with his sister.

The queen had already started her own drink, and she didn't seem drunk. At first Safi was thankful for it. Who knew what kind of torturous conversation she'd have to put up with if Vivia was drunk?

Once Merik made up with his sister, he talked with and about her a lot. Safi had seen kids with older siblings idolise them, but Merik was an adult. Or at least he was supposed to be. And Safi really did not care.

She should have listened. Maybe then she would know how to deal with a drunk queen trying to threaten her.  
At first it was all right. Normal. As normal as that conversation could be, really. There was no outright confrontation, but Vivia asked pretty pointed questions. Not that she answered any of them herself. Safi knew that it wasn't about getting to know her, though. The judgemental way Vivia sat back and drank the rest of whatever it was she had just made Safi feel like she was saying all the wrong things.

Safi tried to be as honest as possible in her answers. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but Safi was very nervous. Merik seemed to care a lot about his sister's opinions all of a sudden. For possibly the first time in her life, Safi really really didn't want to disappoint someone. 

The conversation became really casual really quick, which Safi didn't even notice at first. Vivia was now talking to her too, instead of just asking questions and judging quietly. All the things she said rang true, which Safi didn't even think about. 

But after a few minutes, it was obvious even to Safi that the alcohol kicked in.

Safi's Nubrevnan was good, but nobody had taught her to understand drunk ramblings and slurred words. And she didn't know what she was supposed to do, except laugh.

Merik probably wouldn't be delighted, but Safi could enjoy this while it lasted. Drunk people had the tendency to tell the most interesting stories. 

And Vivia Nihar did too.

First she talked about piracy, and Safi needed to remind her not to be loud about it several times. Vivia then called her boring and Safi had never been so offended in her entire life. 

One particular story led to Vivia changing the topic, talking about a "her". Safi's knowledge of Nubrevnans was severly lacking, and she doubted she would know who it was about even if Vivia had said a name. 

She still planned to ask Merik about it once the whole getting his sister drunk thing blew over. 

As time passed, Vivia flew from topic to topic. Safi was often told she had no attention span, but even she couldn't hold a candle to what she was witnessing in that very moment. It was ridiculous, how quickly a remark about Safi's clothes got replaced by an in depth discussion (that Vivia mostly had with herself instead of Safi, who was sitting right across) about if clothes were an acceptable gift. 

"You know what I'm saying. Like, somebody gives you clothes, right? Does that mean they don't like your clothes? Is it a hint? Or, like, what if it's ugly clothes? But you have to wear it so the person who gave you will see you wearing it but also it's ugly."  
In the end, Vivia concluded that clothes were a bad gift, with the golden exception of the time "a friend of hers" (cue a grin) let her borrow some and then keep it.

To say Safi was having fun would be an understatement. Still, it was getting late and she knew that, as the sober one, she should be making sure Vivia got home safely.

Safi got up, cutting the queen's rant about one particularly annoying vizer. "I'm going to go get you some water, okay?" 

Vivia made no sign to show she heard her. She was in her own world, arms flying around in wild gestures as she talked. 

They were almost the only ones left in the entire building. It was a spacious one, and very nice. Nicer than most of the places Merik and Kullen took her to, in the name of "tradition" but mostly just so the only people seeing them drunk would be other drunk people.

Most of the people that were there when Safi came in were leaving or had already left. It was a place for dining, not getting as drunk as you could. But she supposed no one would tell that to their queen, so they were good.

By the time Safi got back with the glass of water, she had quite a scene to see.

Vivia drank the whole glass of that thing she'd ordered for Safi. She'd even left the glass in its exact place from before, like Safi wouldn't notice at all if it hadn't moved.

"Vivia!" Safi wasn't often in the position to scold somebody. Usually, she was the victim of lectures and the "what the hell is wrong with you?" kind of speeches. She had learned something from Habim, after all, even if that was how to sound very disappointed and exhausted in one word. Or maybe that was just the fact that it was so close to midnight and Vivia talked like they met over morning coffee.

"I paid for it," the queen said defensively. Then she took the glass of water Safi brought and looked deep into it, as if it could answer her questions. "Did I pay for it? I _will_ pay for it."

She then continued talking about the logistics of riding a sea fox into battle, which Safi had to admit was a rather interesting subject. 

Only in the middle of it did she realise that Vivia was just holding the water, not drinking it. 

"Drink your water," Safi said. She almost added one of Habim's signature lines, like "don't make me tell you twice" or "are you deaf?" but she decided against it. She was not becoming her teacher in one night. If anything, it should happen when she's in her fifties.  
Instead of Vivia listening to her and actually drinking the water, she threw it all into Safi's face. 

"You're an awful listener." And then she continued talking. 

Safi was thankful that the queen remembered to use her witchery at least. She knew people who would just throw the entire glass in her face. Hell, Safi was those people sometimes, and she didn't even drink.

In the end Vivia did drink her water, though getting her to do it was nothing short of tortorous. 

After that, Safi got her out before she could order another drink. She had no idea if the guards were going to let her inside the castle, even with Vivia. Getting the queen drunk was definitely not a good look. And paired with Safi's wet hair and shirt, they were quite the pair.

"You look like that time Merik got a cat and - the cat, I'm saying you look like the cat, not Merik, I'm not trying to insult you - and tried to wash it. That's what you look like right now."

While Safi would have loved to hear more about Merik's cat, Vivia pointed at a bird that flew above them. "Oh, is that Ryber's....pigeon? It's a pigeon. Mister Pigeon. That's his name?"

"That's a sparrow, Vivia."

"That's what I said."

Getting Vivia to walk wasn't a problem. She happily ran, even jumping a few times. The absolute bitch of it was, Safi couldn't even catch up. Gods damn it, why couldn't she be a stumbling drunk?

When Vivia stopped, Safi assumed it was because she had another really smart thing to say. But then Merik walked out of the shadows, next to a woman Safi only kind of recognised.

"Oh! We just saw Ryber's hawk."

Merik looked at Safi. A pointed look she could only pretend to avoid until he said her name like it was an insult. His friend was helping Vivia walk. Safi knew that the queen didn't need any help, but she looked more than happy to fall into the woman's waiting arms. Safi wasn't going to say anything, though. If Vivia wanted to fool somebody, that was her choice. 

"Don't look at me, she was drunk when I got there."


End file.
